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The Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. has approved a $75 million loan guarantee to 38 Studios LLC, the game company based in Maynard founded by Curt Schilling, and Schilling accepted Wednesday, announcing plans to relocate the company to the Ocean State.
The RIEDC, the quasi-public agency that is the official economic development organization for the Rhode Island, voted yesterday morning to approve a proposed $75 million loan guarantee for 38 Studios, if they decided to move across the border. Officials at 38 Studios said that they "are excited" to be relocating the business to R.I. shortly thereafter in a news conference held at the RIEDC offices in Providence, according to RIEDC spokeswoman Melissa Chambers. Schilling also addressed the concerns some in R.I. had expressed over the size of the loan. Schilling said that he would “protect the loan guarantee that’s been given by the state with the same passion and interest that I’m protecting my own investment in this company,” according to reports.
Chambers said that 38 Studios is looking for space in Providence for its new home, although no timetable for the move was discussed yesterday. The loan comes from a $125 million program to create jobs in the state, and 38 Studios will not get all of its $75 million chunk at once, but must meet certain milestones. In turn, 38 Studios is agreeing to put up its assets as collateral, including all intellectual property and license agreements.
News of the possible loan guarantee and move to Rhode Island first surfaced in late March, at which time 38 Studios’ chief marketing officer Denise Kaigler said that “First and foremost, it is Curt’s goal to remain in Massachusetts,” but that the company was open to the idea of moving.
Last week at the San Diego Comic Con International, 38 Studios revealed the name and some details of its first game, “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.” The game will be published by industry giant Electronic Arts Inc. and released in the Fall of 2011. The game will be set in the same world background as Copernicus, the massively multiplayer online RPG that 38 Studios was founded to create.
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